Wockhardt Hospitals in key geographies transits into Fortis Hospitals

The transition of Wockhardt Hospitals in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata to Fortis Healthcare network is the largest merger in the Indian healthcare delivery sector. With this transition the new entity named as Fortis Hospitals headed by Mr. Vishal Bali is all set to add significant scale and look at consolidation in the Indian healthcare space.

Addressing a press conference today Mr. Vishal Bali, Chief Executive Officer, Fortis Hospitals Group said “The transaction of the 10 Wockhardt Hospitals into the Fortis Healthcare network has been completed and these hospitals will now be rechristened as Fortis Hospitals. This deal is a landmark in the Indian Healthcare sector and the transition has been accomplished seamlessly”

With the addition of 10 hospitals of Wockhardt, Fortis Healthcare scales up its presence to a network of 39 hospitals and bed capacity from 3278 to 5180. It now extends its reach to 12 cities across the country and adds to its kitty 2 internationally accredited hospitals (Joint Commission International – JCI accreditation) located in Bangalore and Mumbai besides its own one in Mohali. The Fortis network has been strengthened by 3000 people including a team of accomplished clinicians and 15 member senior management team.

With this merger the Fortis Healthcare Network gets further strengthened to provide patient care in super specialty areas of Cardiac care, Neuro Sciences, Orthopedics, Minimal Access Surgery, Renal Sciences and Liver Transplants.

Talking about the growth plans for Fortis Hospitals in Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata Mr. Bali said, “We are looking at significant capacity additions in these three cities which will get completed in 2010”.

Fortis Hospitals will scale up its presence in Bangalore with the upcoming 120 bedded tertiary facility in Peenya which is likely to be commissioned by July 2010. The group has also opened a super specialty out-patient medical centre in Marathalli giving it a much needed foothold in East Bangalore. A hospital in East Bangalore is also being planned.

Mr. Bali also spoke about the significant growth in the Mumbai market with an addition of 300 beds which will happen in two phases. The first phase will see a capacity addition of 150 beds by December 2010. A full-fledged Oncology centre would be part of the phase 1 of the expansion. Apart from this, 2 super specialty out-patient clinics in Mumbai are also on the anvil.

Mr. Bali also spoke about consolidating the Eastern market with the launch of a 414 bedded Super specialty Hospital in Kolkata which will be commissioned in June 2010. With a network of 2 hospitals and 1 day care surgery centre Fortis Hospitals will become a major healthcare provider in Eastern India.

Strengthening India as a Healthcare Hub Fortis Hospitals will front end Tertiary Hospitals across key cities to the Medical value traveler from across the globe. The combined might of the new entity would enable Fortis to consolidate its position in the Medical value travel space. With Delhi, Bangalore, and the Mumbai facilities being front ended a wider choice would be offered to overseas patients across geographies.

“We have made significant progress in our International patient volumes particularly from the developed world. Our current international patient volume is growing by 35% and a major component of this growth is from the US. We have clearly established India as a key destination for the global medical value traveler” said Mr. Vishal Bali.

About Fortis Healthcare Limited

Fortis Healthcare Limited was incorporated in the year 1996 with its first hospital commencing in 2001 at Mohali. It was founded on the vision of creating an integrated healthcare delivery system. Headquartered in New Delhi, Fortis which acquired Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre Limited in September 2005, has operations in Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Faridabad, Jaipur, Kolkatta. Kota, Mauritius, Mohali, Noida,New Delhi, Raipur and Mumbai. With the recent additions of four hospitals in Mauritius, Bangalore, Kota and S.L. Raheja in Mumbai and ten Wockhardt hospitals Fortis is now a network of 39 hospitals with the capacity to increase inpatient beds to 5180 beds. These hospitals include multi specialty hospitals, as well as super-specialty centres providing tertiary and quaternary healthcare to patients in areas such as cardiac care, orthopedics, neurosciences, oncology, renal care, gastroenterology and mother and child care. The hospitals that Fortis operates include a “boutique” hospital for women - Fortis La Femme, its first foray into women’s health and maternity care.

Fortis Hospitals consists of 10 hospitals located in Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata out of which 8 are fully functional and 2 are upcoming projects. The hospital focuses on high end tertiary care around the specialties of cardiac care – adult and pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery, neuro sciences, minimal access surgery and woman care. The entity consists of 2 JCI accredited hospitals located in Bangalore and Mumbai.

27 year old software engineer survives a massive cardiac arrest

In an extra ordinary medical feat Wockhardt Hospitals,Bangalore – "A Network Hospital of Fortis, has set yet another benchmark in the history of medical science by performing a very complicated cardiac surgery on a 27 year old who suffered a massive heart attack.

Rupesh Mathur, a 27 year old engineer hailing from Bihar, complained of breathing difficulty and chest pain on 15th of November 2009 while on his way back home. As the pain increased his friends took him to a city hospital where he was diagnosed with heart attack and was initially treated with clot dissolving medicines. His family later shifted him to Wockhardt Hospitals.

“An angiogram showed severe blockage in 3 arteries. His heart was severely damaged and weakened. His life was in danger. We had to put him on an Intra-Aortic- Balloon-Pump (IABP), but he still had breathing difficulty. So he was put on a ventilator and special medication to stop clots from forming again. Surgery was the only option to save his life as his chances for survival was minimal even after surgery”, said Dr. N S Devananda, Cardiac Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals,Bangalore – A Network of Fortis.

“It was a big decision for his family to make him undergo surgery with less than 5% chance of survival. But his parents decided to go ahead” he added.

Rupesh underwent bypass surgery with the assistance of heart and lung machine to maintain blood circulation. Post the surgery his heart was extremely weak (Pulmonary Adema) and was not coping and he was on the verge of death, hence the doctors could not take him off the heart and lung machine.

Later the doctors decided to place him on an extra carboniam membrane operation (ECMO) and he was shifted to the ICU for 24 hours. ECMO treatment provides oxygenation until the patients lung function has sufficiently recovered to maintain appropriate O2 saturation.

It is often a last resort. Rupesh’s lungs had weakened due to poor circulation of oxygen. Keeping him on ECMO was a major challenge as his chest had to be open and his blood needed to be thin, which lead to bleeding. After 24 hours doctors tried to take him off the bypass however they were forced to put him back on circulatory support after just 45 minutes as his heart could not cope. The situation was extremely grim and doctors had left with two options 1) to keep him on life support system for further 24 hours and hope that his heart strengthens 2) A heart transplant, which was next to impossible to get a donor heart on such short notice.

On 22nd of November 2009 Rupesh was taken off circulatory system for 4 hours with his chest still open, but his heart was still too weak. Doctors put him back on circulatory support for another 12 hours after which his heart started strengthening and he was removed from the machine. 4 days later he was removed from the IABB and 9 days later he was taken off the ventilator. His heart recovered well and was discharged after 2 weeks.

Dr. Devananda said “I have never come across such a difficult case in my entire career. This is miracle, where a patient who was on mechanical life support for survival for so long recovering to live a normal life. This is truly a victory for modern technology and the never say die attitude of this 27 year old”.

These days’ young people are not immune to heart diseases and when it happens in younger people it is sudden, severe and caused more damage to the heart. Of late there is an alarming increase in the number of youngsters with heart diseases.

Young Philippino who never had a hip socket since birth undergoes revision hip replacement surgery

Orthopedic team led by Dr. Kaushal Malhan, Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals,Mulund,Mumbai performed a revision hip replacement surgery on a 29 year old girl from Philippines.

29 year old Elvira was suffering from a congenital birth defect wherein her hip bone had not developed and her hip had no cup since birth. At the age of 21 she had her first hip replacement surgery in Philippines. However the surgery was not a successful one and after a month of her operation she had to undergo a second surgery on the same hip. The second surgery was also not a success and Alvira’s left leg was shortened nearly by 6 cms due to dislocation of her hip joint. Since then she continued to be in pain and had difficulty in walking and performing all the simple day to day chores. Her physical condition restricted her life to a great extent and she lived a compromised life without being able to enjoy the pleasures that one enjoyed at her age. This left Elvira in pain, frustrated, mentally depressed and she decided to sit back home and not interact with any one, for over 3 yrs.

To distract herself and get out of her agony Elvira decided to go for her graduation in 2005 and completed Pharmacy graduation in 2009. Meanwhile destiny gave her a second chance, having suffered for so long Elvira mustered the courage to rectify her problem and decided to come down to India and get operated upon her hip once again.

“Elvira’s problem was a complicated one as she had already undergone hip replacement before and both those operations were failures. The surgeries had damaged Elvira’s bone and now we had to be very careful while performing the revision replacement surgery so as to not damage her bones any further”, said Dr. Kaushal Malhan.

“Her surgery involved removing the previous cemented Hip Replacement, and implanting new specialized components after having reconstructed the bone socket, which was had never developed since child hood. We needed to make up for the loss of bone that occurred due to lack of development and damage in the previous 2 failed operations” he added.

The length of her shortened leg was also corrected and made equal. The implants used have been put in a manner that allows her to sit on the floor without the risk of dislocation, as is seen in conventional Total Hip Replacement (THR) surgery. Elvira is very comfortable post surgery and has already started sitting properly in a manner which she has not been able to do for years. Her pain is completely reduced and now she is hoping to study further to become a doctor.

“My parents consulted a Pediatric doctor at Philippines to sort my problem but we could never get the right direction and the Doctors were not able to offer any solution as mine was a birth defect. Since then I had a compromised gait and could not do all those regular activities which a child of my age used to. When both my surgeries failed I almost lost all hopes and the thought of living a challenged life devastated by morale. But like the saying goes every cloud has a silver lining! I too saw some hope after 8 years. My fiancé read about total hip replacement surgery in a magazine and we got curious and searched on the internet to know more about it. That’s when we read about the credentials of joint replacement surgeries at Wockhardt Hospitals and expertise of various joint replacement surgeons including Dr. Kaushal Malhan who has done some interesting and compelling replacement surgeries. Hence we contacted Wockhardt Hospitals and once everything was finalized we decided to fly down to India for my surgery” said Elvira.

“I no longer have to limp, I am no more in pain and most importantly I can now do everything I had dreamt of doing all these years. This has given a new meaning to my life and I would like to make the most of it now without losing a single opportunity!! All I want to say is there is a solution to every problem, only thing is we need to hunt out for the opportunity and everything else falls in place”, says Elvira with a comforting smile on her face.

Public Forum on Causes ,Prevention and Treatement of Knee and Hip pain

Rare and complicated spinal deformity correction surgery gives 14 year old Shah Rukh Khan a new Life

Doctors at Wockhardt Hospitals led by Dr. K N Krishna, Senior Consultant in the Brain and Spine service successfully performed a rare and complicated spinal deformity correction surgery to save a 14 year old from leading a complete disabled life. Shah Rukh Khan a 9th standard student was suffering from Neurofibromatosis (an autosomal dominant disorder that affects the bone, the nervous system, soft tissue, and the skin) with a severe spinal deformity. There have been only a few cases reported the world over on surgical treatment for a rotational dislocation of the spine in neurofibromatosis.

Shah Rukh Khan who hails from Malur was suffering from Neurofibromatosis since birth however his condition had progression over the years and it was only in the last four months that it manifested in severe deformity leaving him in extreme pain and on the brink of paralysis. His spine was grossly dislocated and twisted putting pressure on the spinal cord. It was at an advanced stage that the child was brought to Wockhardt Hospitals, Bannerghatta for treatment where he was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis and a dislocated spine necessitating immediate surgery to prevent him from further deterioration of his condition.

“In India, unlike western countries, spinal deformity in Neurofibromatosis tends to go undiagnosed due to lack of awareness and also very few hospitals have the infrastructure and expertise to treat this condition. In most cases patients advance to a stage where the spinal deformity can become severe, spinal cord damage can become irreparable and correction very dangerous” said Dr Dilip Gopalakrishnan, Consultant Spine Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals.

The complex surgery involved spinal decompression, stabilization of the deformity and fusion of the spine thus restoring the function of the spinal cord and protecting it from further damage. Shahruk Khan is now able to stand on his feet unassisted with relatively no pain and will soon be discharged.

“Shahruk Khan’s case required considerable study and preparation as there is so little documentation on the surgery at this stage of Neurofibromatosis. A high level of expertise is needed to perform this surgery” said Dr. K N Krishna, Consultant Neuro Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals.

“According to international studies, type 1 neurofibromatosis occurs in approximately 1 of 2,500-3,300 live births, regardless of race, sex, or ethnic background. The carrier incidence at birth is 0.0004, and the gene frequency is 0.0002. The incidence of type 2 neurofibromatosis is 1 case per 50,000-120,000 population” Dr. Krishna added.

Spending his free time in the hospital reading a story book, the much animated Shahruk shares with us about his desire to get back to school soon in the coming year and when asked on which profession he would like to pursue Shahruk promptly replies that he would become a businessman!

Shahruk lost his father when he was 9, due to financial constraints he stays with his aunt in Andhra and his mother lives with grandfather in Malur. Being the only child Shahruk has an aspiration to do something great in life and give his mother all the happiness she deserves. This incident has not dampened the child’s spirit to live life again. At 14 he has victoriously come out of the battle of life and death and with a smile says I would start going to school again from this January.

While the cost of the surgery amounts to Rs 2.5 lakh, the hospital did not charge them much, except for consumable medicines. Shahrukh's family managed to borrow Rs 70,000 for his surgery and further treatment.

About Neurofibromatosis:

Neurofibromatosis (NF) is an autosomal (Pertaining to a chromosome that is not a sex chromosome) dominant disorder that affects the bone, the nervous system, soft tissue, and the skin. It is a neurocutaneous (genetic disorders that lead to abnormal growth of tumors in various parts of the body) condition that can involve almost any organ hence the signs and symptoms can vary widely. There are two major subtypes type 1 neurofibromatosis, which is the most common subtype and is referred to as peripheral neurofibromatosis, and type 2 neurofibromatosis, which is referred to as central neurofibromatosis.

The severity of both types of neurofibromatosis varies greatly. In families where more than one person has NF, the symptoms and complications for each affected person can be different. At diagnosis, it isn't possible to know right away whether a case will be mild or lead to severe complications. Both types of neurofibromatosis are a dominant genetic disorder, which means an affected person has 50% chance of passing it on with each pregnancy. Neurofibromatosis also can be the result of a spontaneous change (mutation) in the genetic material of the sperm or egg at conception in families with no previous history of NF. About half of cases are inherited, and the other half are due to spontaneous genetic mutation

While the cost of the surgery amounts to Rs 2.5 lakh, the hospital did not charge them much, except for consumable medicines. Shahrukh's family managed to borrow Rs 70,000 for his surgery and further treatment.